


Я тебя люблю (I love you)

by books_are_painkillers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, Budapest, F/M, Getting Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 06:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18733558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/books_are_painkillers/pseuds/books_are_painkillers
Summary: Five times Natasha told Clint "I love you" in Russian and the one time he said it back.Based on the prompt "Clint knows what “I love you” sounds like in Russian but he’s never told Natasha he can actually understand her."





	Я тебя люблю (I love you)

“Я тебя люблю”, she whispered, letting go of his hand, hoping he would wake up already. It had been a close call – too close.

They had been on a mission in Budapest when everything went to shit. It was supposed to be a simple mission, with her going to the gala as the date of a businessman who couldn't believe his luck and him on the rooftop next door watching her back. But then a former Red Room operative had shown up and she had to call him in for back up.

Titania had recognised her, though, and she had only had two options: Risk it all and attack her right there or risk the Red Room knowing about her current whereabouts. She had gone for option number one, which had ended with the mission being blown, her killing a seemingly harm- and helpless woman at a gala - and her partner getting shot. Twice. She hadn't realised it until Titania had been dead.

The woman had been there alone, luckily, but while Natasha had recovered from a hard hit against the head, Titania had apparently shot Clint, who had come to help her. She had realised that her partner had been lying on the floor when Natasha had pulled her knife out of the other woman's throat. He hadn't been moving, and for a moment, her heart had stopped. Then she had knelt next to him, and he was still alive. His pulse had been weak, but there.

She had called for immediate extraction, and her voice had been so anxious Coulson had come personally. Which had been a good call because Natasha had never been so dangerous. That's at least what he had told her after the doctor had stepped out of the operating theatre and announced that Clint would survive.

Coulson had stopped her before she could follow the doctor. “What?”, she had snapped, turning around and gripping the hand that was holding her arm tightly. When Coulson had answered, his voice had been calming and soothing.

“I know you're worried about him, Natasha, so am I. But scaring everybody around you won't help that. And you should get changed. Now that we know he's going to be fine, you can leave for an hour or so and have a shower, wash the blood off you, maybe put on something a little more comfortable?”, he suggested carefully. “I will go to his room and keep watch.”

Natasha had just stared at him. “I'm not scared of you”, he had answered calmly. “It's going to take a couple of hours before he's going to wake up though, and I'm sure you're uncomfortable in the dress. It's ripped!” “Don't touch me”, she had hissed and ripped her arm out of Coulson's grip. “Natasha”, he had called after her as she had stormed off. “I will bring you clothes to change. I'm sure they have a shower there.”

He had done exactly that, and then he had shooed her into the adjacent bathroom and taken her seat next to Clint's bed while she had washed his blood off her.

And now she was sitting there, had done so for almost 12 hours. Several agents and nurses had asked her if she didn't want to go to her hotel, saying it would take a while until he would wake up. She had refused every time. Even Fury's threat to be on desk duty for a month if she didn't go to the debrief _right now_ hadn't done anything. She had told him to fuck off and accepted the month of desk duty without blinking.

He had moved his fingers, right before she had whispered the words. _Love is for children_ , her traitorous mind tried to tell her. She had decided not to listen to it for once. “Huh?”, Clint suddenly said. Or at least, that's what she assumed he had tried to say. “Clint?”, she asked, taking his hand again. “M'here. What happened?” He tried to open his eyes and squinted, presumably because it was really bright in the room. “You got shot. We're in a hospital in Berlin”, she said quietly, not knowing whether he had a headache or such. “Berlin?”, he asked confused.

“Yeah. It was quite serious, so Coulson decided to bring you here. Quinjet was really fast” “Hm”, he just answered. “What was the thing you said before all of that?” “Nothing”, she answered quickly, not daring to look into his eyes. He could read her way too good, knew when she was lying. But this time, he either hadn't noticed it or had decided not to call her out on it. “How are you feeling?”, she asked, trying to distract him. “Like a psycho shot me two times while my partner was taking a nap on the floor of a ballroom”, he answered, grinning slightly. “Ass”, she muttered. “So, what were you up to while I was sleeping my partner's laziness off?”, he asked, still grinning.

“Scaring nurses and threatening agents”, a voice from behind them answered. Natasha turned around. Agent Hill was standing in the door. “Oh, and she also told Fury to fuck off when he told her to come to the debrief and got herself a month of desk duty”, she added, smiling sweetly.

“Natasha!”, Clint exclaimed, looking at her in mock-shock. “That's not very ladylike! You definitely deserve that”, he then muttered, still grinning. “Oh, don't get too excited about it”, Agent Hill said. “You're off duty too, for at least a couple of weeks. I'm sure you two are going to be a great team! As soon as you're stable enough the two of you are going back to New York for a debrief and then you're going to be staying there for a while” “Yay”, Clint replied sarcastically. “What are you doing here, anyway? Or Fury?” “You know, a SHIELD agent decided to attack and kill a seemingly harmless young woman at a gala in Budapest less than 24 hours ago and her partner thought it was appropriate to storm in there with a rifle slung over his back and two guns in his hands, getting himself shot in the process. That's going to take a little bit more than a letter saying 'sorry' and a light cover up”, Hill answered sourly. “Sorry”, Clint offered, smiling sheepishly. Hill shook her head. “You two are unbelievable. And it's even more unbelievable Agent Romanoff got the information before it all went to hell. Unbelievable!”, she exclaimed and left without a goodbye.

“Unbelievable!”, Clint said to Natasha, who just smiled at him. He took a closer look at her. She looked exhausted, even if she was doing her best not to show it. “When was the last time you slept? Or ate?”, he asked suspiciously. Natasha just snorted. He slid over in the narrow hospital bed, wincing as he moved. “What are you doing!”, Natasha exclaimed. “You're gonna rip open your stitches!” “And you're gonna break down if you don't get sleep very soon. Come here”, he answered and folded back the covers. “Come on, I won't kill you”, he said when she didn't move.

Hesitantly, Natasha stepped closer and sat down on the edge of the bed. Clint took her arm and pulled her down, his face twisted into a grimace. “Stop, you're hurting yourself”, she said worried. “Then get down here already”, he answered, smiling through the pain. “Fine. But just for an hour. You're going to wake me up, okay?”, she asked, carefully wrapping herself around his side. He just nodded and put his uninjured arm around her.

 

***

 

“Widow? What's your position?”, Clint asked into the comm. When she didn't answer, he repeated his answer, more pressing.

“Natasha!”, he called when she didn't answer. “I'm right over here”, Natasha answered through gritted teeth. He looked up and saw her on the rooftop right next to his. She was running towards him, not slowing down as she came closer to the edge. “Natasha?”, he asked. “I'm alright, just..”, she said, not continuing her sentence. “Just what?”, he asked frowning. “Я тебя люблю”, she said, and then she jumped off the roof.

He stood there frozen for a moment before he moved, running towards the edge. He couldn't see Natasha, but he saw the end of a grappling hook in the wall just about a window. He couldn't see a body on the streets, so she probably jumped through a window. Of course, that didn't mean that she was fine, but at least she hadn't died falling down a building. He snorted and went down the fire escape to get access to the top floor of the building.

Clint found her in the second office he checked. She was lying on her back, not moving but clearly alive. She had gone through the window head first, but judging by the bullet holes in the door she had at least shot it first. And the office. But that didn't matter now. “Tasha?”, he asked, kneeling down next to her but not touching her. “M'kay”, she mumbled. “No you're not. You scared the crap out of me by jumping off a building. Give a guy a warning next time!” “I did”, she mumbled, still not opening her eyes or moving. “Do I have to start taking Russian classes in order to not get a heart attack the next time you do something stupid?” She nodded but winced immediately. “Are you injured?”, he asked worriedly. “Where does it hurt?” “Head”, she mumbled. “Back. Shoulders” “Okay, don't move. I'm calling for extraction”, he said before touching the comm in his ear. “Coulson? We need extraction. Black Widow jumped through a window. We got the information though. Okay. Extraction's gonna be here in ten”, he then said to his partner who had finally opened her eyes. “Yay”, she just mumbled and closed her eyes again.

 

***

 

When he first woke up, his ears were ringing. There was a doctor standing next to him, saying something. Clint shook his head. He couldn't hear a word of what the doctor said over the ringing. The doctor frowned. Clint pointed to his ears. Realisation dawned on the doctor's face. He said something to the nurse standing on the other side of his bed who drew up a syringe and stabbed the needle into a port on the back of his hand. The world before him started to get blurry and his eyelids got heavy, then he slowly drifted off back to sleep.

When he woke up the next time, the ringing was gone. Instead, everything was quiet. He didn't know if that was better or worse. Slowly, Clint opened his eyes. Natasha was sitting next to his bed. Before she could say anything, he pointed to his ears and said: “Can't hear anything.” He cringed, not knowing how loud he had spoken. She just smiled though and nodded. Then she held up a whiteboard, putting it on her lap and writing something on it. “What happened to me?”, he asked carefully. She just turned around the whiteboard. 'Building fell on you. Ruptured eardrums, doctors aren't sure what else'. “Is it permanent?”, he asked worriedly. She just shrugged. “How many nurses did you threaten to find this out?”, he then asked, trying to brighten the mood. He didn't get the laugh he aimed for, but at least she smiled.

Then she turned the whiteboard to her again and wiped it clean, writing something new down. 'They want to do more tests tomorrow, see if it influences your aim and stuff'. His aim. He hadn't even thought about that. Suddenly, he didn't feel like talking anymore and turned around. He didn't catch Natasha writing 'Я тебя люблю' and removing it immediately. She briefly pressed his shoulder before she turned around and left. “We're gonna get through this together. Я тебя люблю.”, she whispered and left.

 

***

 

“Wait, wait”, he said and tapped her arm. “What?”, she answered, fully alert, and turned around to see what Clint was looking at. They were undercover in Düsseldorf, following an Armenian drug dealer.

“I wanna pet the dog”, he said excitedly, pointing at a golden retriever sitting next to a bench. The owner was sitting on the bench, licking an ice cream and presumably watching her children on the playground next to the bench. Clint hurried over to the dog, looking like a child on Christmas morning.

“Entschuldigung?”, he said when he stopped in front of the bench. The woman looked up confused. “Darf ich Ihren Hund streicheln?” “Ähm, ja, natürlich”, the woman answered after looking at Natasha, who had come to a stop next to Clint. While Clint knelt down in front of the dog and started petting him, Natasha threw and apologising smile at the woman. “Entschuldigen sie meinen Freund, er ist nur ein bisschen einsam”, she said. “Ist doch kein Problem”, the woman laughed. “Ich glaube, Lucky gefällt die Aufmerksamkeit.” Natasha smiled back while the woman turned towards the playground again.

Natasha focussed on her partner and the dog. Clint seemed to be totally absorbed in the dog. Her smile grew wider. “Я тебя люблю”, she whispered. Clint looked up in confusion. “Do we have to go?”, he asked, looking slightly upset. “No, it's fine. Enjoy the dog”, Natasha said mockingly. The woman threw her a surprised look and smiled at her.

 

***

 

“Hey, Tasha”, Clint greeted her, sounding way too happy. “What happened?”, she asked suspiciously. He had been stuck in New Mexico for way too long and he'd been getting more bored and upset week for week. “you won't guess what happened today!”, he said joyfully. Natasha squeezed her eyes together. “I don't know. Did they give you some kind of happy serum? Did you get to shoot one of the Junior Agents? Did you get laid?” Clint snorted. “Hilarious, Romanoff. But no, we had a visitor!” “A visitor”, she repeated, one eyebrow raised. “Yeah, he tried to lift the – the super secret thing we're here for that you don't know anything about”, he said, grinning. “The super secret thing you're there for that I don't know anything about”, she repeated. “Yeah”, Clint replied, still grinning.

Then Coulson appeared on the screen. “Hello, Agent Romanoff”, he greeted her. “It's so nice to hear that Agent Barton kept to the rules and didn't tell you a single thing about the _classified_ mission!” Clint cringed. “How is Malibu?”, Coulson asked. “Less self-destructive than before you left”, she answered. “Are you sure you don't wanna come back, though?”, she then asked. “No, but thank you. I'm gonna let you two catch up about things that have _nothing_ to do with the _very classified_ missions you're currently on!” Natasha just smiled and Coulson left, not before shooting a significant look at Clint, who just smiled back innocently.

“Oops”, he said when Coulson had closed the door behind him. Natasha let out a huff of laughter. “Yeah, guess you can call it that. Who was it, though?”, she then asked. “Apparently his name is Thor, and he's from space or something. The thing's supposed to be a magic hammer with some ridiculous name. Fought his way through way too many SHIELD agents but he couldn't get the hammer. He got picked up by some scientists later, gave him another name though, ID was fake. Didn't get to shoot him, sadly. How's Malibu?”, he then asked cheerfully.

Natasha moaned and let her head drop on the keyboard. “So bad?”, Clint chuckled. “Worse”, she answered. “There should be a law that allows people to kill other people on special occasions.” Clint snorted. “Sorry, can't help you with that. What did he do today?” “Oh, he nearly revealed my true identity to Miss Potts, 'accidentally' spilled water over my dress and then I had to stay longer because he messed up something in the office” “Sounds fun”, Clint offered. Natasha just glared at him.

He yawned, which made her look at the clock. “Oh shit!”, she declared. “It's way too late! Why did you even answer? You should be asleep by now!” Clint shrugged. “Missed you”, he then said and ran his hand through his hair, throwing a nervous smile at her. “I miss you too”, she whispered and couldn't stop herself from smiling back. “But you should really go to sleep. Can't have you falling out of your nest tomorrow” “You're hilarious”, he deadpanned, but there was a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. “I know”, she answered. “Я тебя люблю” “Good night to you, too”, he replied, stifling a yawn. “Good night”, she said and closed the laptop.

 

*****

 

She had seen him jump down the roof out of the corner of her eyes, but when she had turned around he had already gone through the window. “Dammit”, she mumbled, climbing down the stairs and handing the sceptre off to a surprised looking cap and running towards the building Clint had stood on.

She stopped in front of it, counting the windows. 61st floor. The elevator was out of order, so she took the stairs.

When she arrived on the 61st floor, she could see him lying on the ground. “Dammit, Clint”, she cursed and hurried towards him. He didn't move, but he had a pulse. He didn't react when she nudged him, but when she started pulling shards of glass out of his arm, he jerked awake. “Tasha”, he said relieved. “That's my move”, she replied and pointed at the window. “You can keep it”, Clint answered and sat up wincing. “Is my quiver really lodged in my back or does it just feel that bad?” “Nah, your back is fine... Kind of”, she said, eyeing his back critically. Then she got to her feet, extending an arm to help him up as well.

As soon as he stood, he pulled her into a hug. She didn't protest, just put her arms around him and pressed her face into his chest. “You scared me”, Natasha mumbled against his chest. She felt the laughter rumble through his chest. “Yeah? And what about you jumping on this alien sledge thing?” “You have a point”, she admitted smiling. “Я тебя люблю”, she then whispered into his chest. “I love you, too”, he answered. She lifted her head from his chest to stare at him in surprise. “You really didn't think I wouldn't catch up some Russian phrases in a circus?”, he asked, smiling at her. “You ass”, she said smiling. “I know”, he answered and leaned down to finally kiss her.

**Author's Note:**

> Я тебя люблю – I love you
> 
> Entschuldigung – Excuse me
> 
> Darf ich Ihren Hund streicheln? - May I pet your dog?
> 
> Ähm, ja, natürlich – Um, yes, of course
> 
> Entschuldigen sie meinen Freund, er ist nur ein bisschen einsam – Excuse my friend, he's just a little lonely ('Freund' means friend and boyfriend in German, thought I would just leave this here)
> 
> Ist doch kein Problem – No problem
> 
> Ich glaube, Lucky gefällt die Aufmerksamkeit – I think Lucky likes the attention
> 
> I hope the Russian is correct, I can't guarantee for it though. I wrote this around 3am in the morning after seeing the prompt on tumblr.   
> I kind of added the "Clint knows how to say 'Excuse me, may I pet your dog?" in 15 languages, Natasha knows how to say "Excuse my friend, he's just lonely" in all of them".


End file.
